Before the calamity
by skyarmors
Summary: Have you wondered what if there was a reason for Link to become the appointed knight or wanted to hear what happened to his parents? That's exactly what I delve into with my story, Before the calamity.


**I do not own the legend of zelda franchise or any part of nintendo**

 **Warning: heavy themes of depression, read at your own risk**

"He's beautiful." She said, holding him up to the light. What should we name him?

"You know honey, there's a legend passed down through my family. It goes," he paused for a second, thinking about it, "It goes _10,000 years ago, there was a civilization that lived in the skies, never knowing of the surface below. Then, the reincarnation of the goddess hylia was kidnapped by the dangers that had grown. A hero rose up from the devastation, vowing to find her on the surface. After a long and treacherous journey, the hero saved hylia's reincarnation, uniting the land and sky, hylians with hyrule, once again. The name of this hero was Link, the legendary swordsman._ " "My father would tell that story to me every night as a child. And as such, I think we should name him Link, after the swordsman who saved the land.

"Link, what a beautiful name." She held him up to the sun and announced, "I name him Link!" Link seemed to laugh at this, showing his approval of the name. They then lived in peace, or they thought they would, until a year later.

"Oh man I can't wait to get home!" Link's father said out loud.

"Link will be so excited!" His mother yelled over the wind. They were bringing home exotic foods from zora's domain. On the way, they stopped to ask a traveler for the fastest route to castle town, where they lived.

"Sure thing, I'll drag your corpses their myself!" The mask fell, exposing him as a member of the Yiga clan. He lunged for the mother first, stabbing her in the heart before they could react. The father saw this in horror.

"SELENA!" Link's father yelled and drew his royal broadsword, preparing to fight. The battle was long and tedious, testing the endurance of both of them. Eventually, Link's father came out on top, though he didn't feel victorious. Instead of giving Link exotic foods that night. He had to explain why his mother was "away for a little while" while she was in the backyard, sleeping 6 feet under.

Link ended up talking a short while later, and he eventually started to ask "Where's Mommy?" sending a pain of guilt through Link's father. Everytime, Link's father would chuckle, "She hasn't come back from the trip yet Link!" When he was two, he picked up a dagger his father had left out. He went to the backyard, passing the stone in the ground he couldn't read (his mother's grave) and kept walking towards the place he had seen his father practicing with his broadsword. He had always looked up to his father's skills and watched him quite often. He had always noted that swordplay had never looked to hard to him, so he began practicing while his father was at work, mimicking what his father did slowly at first, then building his speed to match his father. After just a couple of weeks Link became strong enough to hold a traveler's sword properly, although he noted that he was better suited for a shortsword or dagger due to his small size. He started to train his eye for places he could enhance his speed and strength with different moves, and he asked to watch his father when he got home from work often. He was done trying to hold swords as big as him, and had settled on the dagger for now until he could get his hands on a shortsword. Then one day he was practicing for a little too long. His father came home from Hyrule castle early on horseback, and Link didn't notice, his father heard grunts and yells from the backyard. Thinking Link was in trouble, he ran to the backyard, which Link still somehow didn't notice. He looked to his practice area (a bunch of wooden bokoblins in a clearing of the backyard) and noticed there was no one else but… "LINK!" This startled Link, causing him to thrust forward a little too hard, breaking a bokoblin dummy. He knew he had been busted. He turned to his father, trying to think of words he knows that could play out in his favor.

"I...I wa-was jj-just see-seeing wha-what it wa-was like." He struggled to stammer out the words (he was only about to be 3 after all).

"How did you get that dagger?" His father asked sitting down with Link.

"Y-you left it o-out" he stammered.

"Hahaha! So that's where it went!" his father laughed.

"Are y-you m-mad?" he stammered.

"No I could never be mad at you, you just scared me is all. Although…since you really want to test your swordplay…" he reached into his pouch and brought out a shortsword. "Why not try it on me? Don't worry, I'll go easy."

"O-okay." Link stammered out and grabbed the sword. The fight had begun. His father noticed his crystal blue eyes seemed to sharpen, and he started to slowly swing his sword. Link noticed every opening and move he could make to parry it. He swung with his left hand and parried it, already withdrawing and starting to send a flurry of attacks. _How did he get this good!?_ His father thought, getting faster to avoid a blow to his armor. Meanwhile, Link had taken note that his father didn't know he kept the dagger. His father swung downwards, and Link brought out the dagger. He performed the double knife defense (crossing two short swords into an x to neutralize a downward blow. His father was caught off guard and suddenly he had his father on the ground, shortsword to his throat. "I win" he said and his eyes loosened again. It was like he had some ancient knowledge of swordplay, although it was odd that he used his left hand, as the had never seen anyone in his family that was left-handed. He advanced and learned quickly, beating his father a lot. It was like he was the legendary swordsman. The king heard of this and started to test him against other soldiers at the age of three. He was besting them easily, becoming one of the best knights in hyrule by age four. His father then agreed to let him go to zora's domain with the best knights in hyrule, which made Link very excited.

"I'm going to go meet Zora's! I can't wait!" Link was screaming throughout the house, smiling like there was no tomorrow. Then he left for Zora's domain, a bright smile and shortsword ready.

 **Next chapter will be from Link's point of view**

 **Author's note: I'm back to writing! Although I abandoned my last story, I'll try not to abandon this one. It could be a while between chapters as I have school though.**


End file.
